[Event "chess.com IoM Masters"] [Site "Douglas ENG"] [Date "2016.10.08"] [Round "8.1"] [White "Eljanov, Pavel"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2741"] [BlackElo "2813"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2016.10.01"] {Elajnov was half a point ahead of the field before the start of the eighth round. He was up against Fabiano Caruana. The latter definitely would be looking for blood as a win would mean, sole first spot.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 dxc4 {The Vienna variation is not seen very often at the top level, but it is provocative in nature and quite good when you are trying to play for a full point.} 5. e3 (5. e4 {is much more active, but with a half point lead Eljanov decides to keep it solid.}) 5... a6 6. a4 c5 7. Bxc4 { We have now transposed into the Queen's Gambit Accepted territory.} Nc6 8. O-O Be7 9. Qe2 {White needs to develop his pieces and hence this move seems completely logical. But because a6 and a4 have been added, Black can now win the pawn on d4. The point of a6 being added is that the b5 square is covered and moves like Nb5 or Bb5 will no longer be possible.} cxd4 10. Rd1 (10. exd4 Nxd4 11. Nxd4 Qxd4 {is fine for Black.}) 10... e5 11. exd4 exd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Qe5 {This is all well known theory. White is going to win back his piece, but overall it seems highly unlikely that he can fight for an edge in this position.} Qd6 14. Qxd4 Qxd4 15. Rxd4 Bc5 16. Rd1 (16. Rd3 {was tried by Koneru against Ju Wenjun recently, but it doesn't change the evaluation of the position.}) 16... O-O 17. h3 Be6 (17... Bf5 {is met with the strong} 18. Bd5 $1 {when it is not so easy to defend the b7 pawn.}) 18. Bxe6 fxe6 {That's a common idea. The e6 pawn will not be very weak. Meanwhile it was important to get rid of the important c4 bishop.} 19. Kf1 Nd5 20. f3 Nxc3 21. bxc3 Rac8 22. Rb1 b6 23. Re1 Rc6 24. Re4 Rd8 25. Bf4 Kf7 26. Be5 Rd2 27. Rg4 g6 28. Ke1 Rd5 ( 28... Ra2 29. Rd1 Ke7 30. Rd2 $11) 29. Rf4+ Ke7 30. Re4 Bd6 31. Bd4 { Theoretically it was an excellent result for Caruana, but judging from the tournament situation it was just what Eljanov needed. He is now half point ahead with just one round to go!} 1/2-1/2

Vídeo

On this 60 mins video we are going to concentrate on a simple, very solid idea in the main line Scandinavian, which even Magnus Carlsen has used to win games. Black focusses on making his life easy in the opening and forces White to work very hard to get advantage – but it is doubtful if White can get an advantage. Club players are always on the lookout for effective, time-saving solutions and here we have just that. Accompany FIDE Senior Trainer and IM Andrew Martin on this 60 mins video. You can learn a new opening system in 60 mins and start to play it with confidence on the very same day!